


like a candle to the sun

by grainjew



Series: stared at the sun and the sun smiled back and called itself pirate king (or: loyalty, on the high seas) [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Enies Lobby, Gen, Loyalty, Luffy Being Luffy, Water 7, i spent the entire water 7 arc with a desperate need to write this fic and i was finally able to, usopp is doing his best, zoro is intimidatingly loyal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 11:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12983577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grainjew/pseuds/grainjew
Summary: Usopp and Zoro have a long-overdue conversation about loyalty and weakness after everything has settled down and everyone has settled in on the Sunny.coda to Water 7/Enies Lobby"You were weak," said Zoro, either ignoring him or answering him- Usopp wasn't sure."I know," Usopp said as the words hit him like the sea train, feeling his voice go small as he looked down. "I let the money get stolen, and—""Not like that," said Zoro.





	like a candle to the sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fallingwish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingwish/gifts).



> every one of my one piece fics is for connie fallingwish because it's her fault im invested in the pirates in the first place, thanks connie for hell  
> you will not be able to comprehend how often i complained that i couldn't write this fic yet before i finished the arc... enjoy!

"Hey!" said Luffy, jumping up from where he'd been sitting in a circle with Usopp and Chopper and throwing his hands out wide. "Dinner's almost done, I can feel it! Hey, Zoro!"

No response. Usopp figured he was probably asleep.

Luffy frowned. Pouted, more like. "Someone go get Zoro, he needs to come to dinner! I'm going."

"I'll get him," said Usopp hastily, not entirely sure why. Zoro would come to dinner when Zoro came to dinner. He was like the captain in that way. Unbudgeable.

But then Luffy turned that smile on him, the one that was brighter than the sun, the one that made him feel guilt down to the soles of his feet for even having _thought_ of leaving, and he knew. "Thanks, Usopp!"

So Usopp went to go find Zoro.

It wasn't hard, even for Usopp who was still unfamiliar with the layout of the Thousand Sunny. Zoro was napping against the starboard railing, somehow asleep sitting up like always. He cracked open an eye as Usopp approached.

"You're an idiot," Zoro said flatly.

Figures, that he had been listening in the whole time. Usopp sighed. "Yeah, I know." No response. "Luffy says dinner."

"We need to talk," said Zoro, ignoring him. Usopp seethed internally for a moment, and then reminded himself: _no, I deserve this_.

"Okay," he said instead. "What about?" As though it wasn't obvious. He sat down.

"You. Luffy."

Usopp winced. Yeah, that went exactly where he expected. "I— I already apologized, didn't I?" That came out more aggressive than he intended. "Why do we have to talk about it?" Can't we just let it go and pretend it never happened? The great Usopp was very talented at pretending. Especially to himself. Couldn't Zoro accept that? It was done and gone. He'd come back. He'd come _back_ , home.

"You were weak," said Zoro, either ignoring him or answering him- Usopp wasn't sure.

"I know," Usopp said as the words hit him like the sea train, feeling his voice go small as he looked down. "I let the money get stolen, and—"

"Not like that," said Zoro. "You're about the same level as Nami and Chopper, usually. Except that I haven't had to have this talk with either of them."

Usopp felt his eyes widen, and he jerked his head up to stare at Zoro. "What?" He laughed nervously. "Ah, of course, the grea—"

"Shut up," said Zoro. Usopp shut up. "You know why I haven't had those conversations?" He didn't wait for Usopp to answer him. "They're strong, properly strong, the kind of strong the captain can depend on."

"And I...?" Usopp didn't know why he was bothering. Zoro didn't do speeches often, but he was clearly on a roll here.

"You doubt yourself." _Ouch_. "And you have too much pride in strength you don't even have, at the same time." Zoro’s eyes bore into him like one of those flying attacks of his. It was even scarier than normal Zoro-scariness. "I’m going to become the greatest swordsman and beat Mihawk because _he deserves no less_.” No need to clarify the he, Usopp knew as well as anyone that there was nobody more important than Luffy, not to Zoro. “If you get tangled up in your doubts and refuse to get stronger, keep getting carried away by your pride and _refuse to get stronger_ , then you are not worthy of a place on his ship.”

 _Ouch_. Usopp gulped and nodded quickly. Zoro could cut with words as well as swords, who knew.

"He needs only the best, he selects only the best, and we will give him only the best."

Zoro was just sitting there, same as ever, hair slightly mussed from his nap and a half-empty bottle of sake beside him, and Usopp had never felt so intimidated in his entire life. Kuro, Arlong, Crocodile, Eneru, Lucci... none of them could hold a _candle_ to Zoro sitting there burning with the kind of loyalty and devotion that made Usopp feel as small and wretched and guilty as Luffy's grateful smile.

Usopp believed in Luffy, unconditionally. He _would_ be the King of the Pirates, Usopp knew it like he knew that the ocean was vast and his hair was curly and his mom was dead. But he had _left_. Usopp had _left_ , in a fit of anger and self-doubt, as though he didn't also know that Luffy was a self-admitted disaster without his crew, as though he didn't know that Luffy had so much faith in them all as to keep even a Devil Fruit user afloat, let alone a spindly liar like him. He left his so-alive captain to cling to a doomed ship (Merry, _Merry_ ) and wounded pride. It was a mistake made with a mind all rattled from emotion and incredulity and grief, but it was a mistake. The greatest he had ever made.

"Most captains wouldn't let someone like me back on board," he said finally, and Zoro looked at him, all assessing.

"No," he answered, as though Usopp didn't know how terribly, terrifyingly, ridiculously lucky he was, to be on Monkey D Luffy's ship. "But you lowered your head and admitted you were wrong. That was all he needed."

"It's scary," he said, because it was. Luffy was scary, there was no way around it. Luffy's _trust_ was scary.

Zoro snorted. "At least you're not saying you should be captain anymore."

"I know my place," said Usopp, making sure his voice was completely serious. This was a completely serious thing. Luffy was the captain of the Thousand Sunny, and Usopp followed Luffy. He wouldn't -- couldn't -- have it any other way. Not after all this. "I know my place, now."

"Oh, good, that was getting obnoxious," said Zoro blandly.

Usopp winced again. Yeah, he could see how it would be. He regretted several dozen things, at least. He was going to have to start making a list, at this point. "Sorry."

"As long as you've stopped challenging his authority, it's in the past." Zoro's voice was equanimous. Him and Luffy both, how _did_ they get so damn good at not dwelling on things?

"I've stopped," said Usopp with finality. "All of that. I'll get strong for him. I'll be the _best_ for him, like you said, the best sniper in the whole Grand Line and the best liar too." _He deserves no less_. "I will never betray my captain again." The pure, unvarnished truth.

"Good," said Zoro, and Usopp knew that that was the end of that. "Captain said dinner, come on."

Usopp scrambled up after him, sputtering, and followed him into noise and light and the smell of Sanji's heavenly cioppino and the sight of a sunny smile that would conquer the oceans, and everything was alright.

**Author's Note:**

> luffy: i have friends i want by my side even if they're not strong  
> zoro: if im not the strongest i dont deserve to be by his side
> 
> zoro i need u to stop giving usopp ur Complexes he really has enough of those already my guy. thanks for trying tho.


End file.
